[L.J.Thorpe]

when you get dropped by a customer and they offer no explanation ,dont you want to know why
i got home to find a message from longstanding customer who had paid me day before
just "we dont want them cleaning anymore".Now do i just shrug and forget it or should i try and find out why?
if they were unhappy with service i want to know
if they got cheaper price they might not want to say
if they cant afford it any more they may be embarassed
is it pushy to go round and ask or is it good customer service

[pingu]

Perhaps just a phone call along the lines of "whilst we respect your choice to end our service could you elaborate as to why...was it quality?, scheduling".

It must be worth a try...

Cheers
Dave.

[Ian Curtis]

People worry less about you than you think - you have a low self-esteem and it needs to be kept afloat, so you look to blame your customers when your day goes wrong. IMO.

[brightnclean]

Actually it's good business practice to follow up on lost customers.

OK a lot will fob u off with this or that excuse but it can help you to improve your business.

[L.J.Thorpe]

People worry less about you than you think - you have a low self-esteem and it needs to be kept afloat, so you look to blame your customers when your day goes wrong. IMO.

wtf are you on   its a simple question about customer service not diy psychoanalysis hour
or perhaps your just projecting  :

[Neil Williams]

We had one recently who we'd been doing for a few years.
In with the cheque a note saying and I quote....
Don't clean our windows anymore
No please, no thank you, no anything else so if that's their attitude I'm not wasting any time or money having a conversation about it.

[frames to panes]

I would want to know so i could avoid any more. Most likely a money problem.

[Ian Curtis]

People worry less about you than you think - you have a low self-esteem and it needs to be kept afloat, so you look to blame your customers when your day goes wrong. IMO.

wtf are you on   its a simple question about customer service not diy psychoanalysis hour
or perhaps your just projecting  :


You're the one who brought the problem to our attention, we can only advise.  Calm down would be my first piece of advice.

[windowwashers]

I would want to know so i could avoid any more. Most likely a money problem.

Have to agree, I always ask why, I have heard loads of great stories in the past. Most of the times it is money problems, if you dont call you dont know and if you dont know you defo cant fix a problem if there is one.
Call them and ask is the best answer you will get on this post IMHO

Ian

[Neil Williams]

I wouldn't go around in person, that would come across as aggressive.
If it's eating you up then just do a customer satisfaction phone call.

[L.J.Thorpe]

We had one recently who we'd been doing for a few years.
In with the cheque a note saying and I quote....
Don't clean our windows anymore
No please, no thank you, no anything else so if that's their attitude I'm not wasting any time or money having a conversation about it.

neil when i was trad only that was my attitude as well trouble with wfp is the fact that you are trusting it to be working properly you cant see the finished result like you can trad so only have customer response to go on

[peter holley]

it used to realy get me down when someone cancelled.... but now i just move on....i pick up far more than i lose ...the buisness is growing, and si i know i must be doing something right...

  but in answer to the original question ...i do like to know the reason for cancelling....if i have done a bad job , i want the chance to put it right...if it's an employee i would want to know ..etc....

as they cancelled by message i would just forget about it, but if they had told you in person i would have asked for a reason...

[MNWC]

When their out clean em with waste water (tops only)

That'll teach em !

Marcus..

[brightnclean]

Sometimes some of the stuff on here amazes me.

Ian (WW) is about the only one who seems to be bothered about monitoring his business  

It's simple and basic practice to monitor all aspects of any business. It's all very well saying forget em etc. In a lot of cases customers have legitimate reasons for cancelling. One of the major ones is money getting tight for one reason or another and they often feel a bit embarrassed about this. A quick call to say something like.. I am sorry to lose your custom. Is there any particular reason for losing it? can bring out the real reason. If it's money then I offer an 8 weekly clean instead of 4 weekly. A lot of them take this up. If they really can't afford it for now I always say I hope to be of service again when things improve. I make a note to take them back if they call. Which they often do.

I don't take cancellations personally. It's a business after all.

[L.J.Thorpe]

When their out clean em with waste water (tops only)

That'll teach em !

Marcus..

thats my trick and its patented

Sometimes some of the stuff on here amazes me.

Ian (WW) is about the only one who seems to be bothered about monitoring his business 

It's simple and basic practice to monitor all aspects of any business. It's all very well saying forget em etc. In a lot of cases customers have legitimate reasons for cancelling. One of the major ones is money getting tight for one reason or another and they often feel a bit embarrassed about this. A quick call to say something like.. I am sorry to lose your custom. Is there any particular reason for losing it? can bring out the real reason. If it's money then I offer an 8 weekly clean instead of 4 weekly. A lot of them take this up. If they really can't afford it for now I always say I hope to be of service again when things improve. I make a note to take them back if they call. Which they often do.

I don't take cancellations personally. It's a business after all.

good post

it used to realy get me down when someone cancelled.... but now i just move on....i pick up far more than i lose ...the buisness is growing, and si i know i must be doing something right...

  but in answer to the original question ...i do like to know the reason for cancelling....if i have done a bad job , i want the chance to put it right...if it's an employee i would want to know ..etc....

as they cancelled by message i would just forget about it, but if they had told you in person i would have asked for a reason...

and another

[Davo]

Sometimes some of the stuff on here amazes me.

Ian (WW) is about the only one who seems to be bothered about monitoring his business  

It's simple and basic practice to monitor all aspects of any business. It's all very well saying forget em etc. In a lot of cases customers have legitimate reasons for cancelling. One of the major ones is money getting tight for one reason or another and they often feel a bit embarrassed about this. A quick call to say something like.. I am sorry to lose your custom. Is there any particular reason for losing it? can bring out the real reason. If it's money then I offer an 8 weekly clean instead of 4 weekly. A lot of them take this up. If they really can't afford it for now I always say I hope to be of service again when things improve. I make a note to take them back if they call. Which they often do.

I don't take cancellations personally. It's a business after all.

Spot on, dont be afraid of what you may think maybe bad news, use the knowledge gained to improve what you do.

Money gets tight offer them an option, extend the call frequency, it ups your hourly rate but brings down the weekly cost to the customer of the clean.



Mark

[d s windowcleaning]

this will help  phone your x-- customer and say please could you tell me if the quality of my work as made you cancel ...... you will find out that it aint ........ they have hit hard times mate and they cant afford you its as simple as that it dont matter about you they are trying to stay afloat rather than sink , times are getting hard for people so if i was you id expect a few more .

[Wayne Thomas]

I lost quite a few jobs in a compact area recently - obviously some cheaper window cleaner moved in on my customers, it's common sense to suss that out, I don't need to ask the customers why they lied to me with a note. I'm just grateful they had the decency to send me a note to cancel window cleaning, rather than clean them again and have difficulty trying to recoup my money.
Forget the cancellations, life's too short to worry and move on to better paying jobs....I did, I've replaced them now.

[Londoner]

I think its only natural that you would want to know why but often when you look back you can see the signs were there. You just didn't pick them up.

Money is the big reason although people are too proud to tell you so. I think we are an expensive luxury and easy to drop when the going gets difficult.

You can't let it get to you though, and I think thats what people on here mean when they act all tough and say things like "Nah it doesn't bother me"

It does bother them, or it should,  but you can't let it drag you down. You end up doubting yourself and its probably not your fault.

I still wonder about customers who dropped me ages ago for no apparant reason but I have to move on. 

[pingu]

I think that the crux of it here is that trying to know as much as possible about your business can only be a good thing....only look at some of the muppets that present themselves on the Dragons Den...some have very little idea of their turnover nevermind targets,projections, etc....

If I am cancelled I like to know why at least like to hear the ac's reason....whether it is the truth or not does not matter.(not that you'll know)..just would like to hear a reason from the ac.

Dave.